(The Internet, my computer or blogger isnt working so your getting the pictures first! Stupid electronics!)
After last weeks terrible showing on my part, I entered the second race with a little more aggression knowing I had to fight a lot morein the pack. I couldnt let any gaps form during the start and in the eschelons otherwise in France it seems your done for. It was a smaller field this week with about 70 riders, and the course was differant, being mostly flat but with an UNREAL windy section.
We had a 9km loop, with one section looking exactly like Paris-Roubaix. It had the narrow narrow roads through fields(team cars werent allowed this race, only motorcycles) with super high banks on either side. There wasnt any cobbles but a mixture of dirt, gravel, and broken chipseal. It was so cool to look up while riding and see dust blowing around each rider in the pack.
The backstretch before the finish line was tough as we were only about 20km from the Atlantic, and you could see directly to it. There were no trees or buldings to block the wind and you could definitley feel it!
The race started very chaotic. Everyone was nervous and rammed into the narrow streets from the startline heading into the field section. After a couple laps it calmed down as some guys dropped off, the pack narrowed and everyone got a feel for the race.
A major break happened mid-race. I made a huge push to get into it where a teammate followed me into the wind. We made it, but once we hit the really windy section I simply couldt hold the echelon and dropped back again, cooked from the effort. My team-mate stayed in the break which was good. I though it would all come together in the end for a sprint but the break ended up staying away...hah.
It was so windy its hard to describe. At one point I looked up and saw a rider get blown over into the field about 5ft. If France Im leanring if you dont know how to ride in an escelon you learn really really quickly!
From that point when I dropped off back into the second pack, it was an un-eventful race really. The break stayed away and people continued to drop off. I had to fight each time to make sure I was in the front going into the windy section otherwise you were gonner.
I ended up netting 15th of 20 finishers, 4th in the pack sprint. With about 70 entrees, 15th is ok.
The Boys who were in the break did great. Guillaume netted 2nd on the day! Rodolphe a 7th and Ben a 6th(Im pretty sure ?).
Lessons learned yesterday. If you get blown off the road and find yourself riding in a ditch or on grass or dirt....its no need to panic.
On the Friday spin young Stu and I pedalled to the crazy old town of Domfront. Its about 20km away from Flers, and is right out of the middle ages. Its pretty insane this place. I think Domfront was orginally as castle with a giant wall surrounding it. Some of the wall and castle have colapsed or were destroyed in one of the 10 wars since then, but it was neat because you could look at the ruins and see the walkways built of stone and see inside the castle. The whole town is built on a hill, with a modern-ish town built on the indside. Its really facinating to see.
We had a 9km loop, with one section looking exactly like Paris-Roubaix. It had the narrow narrow roads through fields(team cars werent allowed this race, only motorcycles) with super high banks on either side. There wasnt any cobbles but a mixture of dirt, gravel, and broken chipseal. It was so cool to look up while riding and see dust blowing around each rider in the pack.
The backstretch before the finish line was tough as we were only about 20km from the Atlantic, and you could see directly to it. There were no trees or buldings to block the wind and you could definitley feel it!
The race started very chaotic. Everyone was nervous and rammed into the narrow streets from the startline heading into the field section. After a couple laps it calmed down as some guys dropped off, the pack narrowed and everyone got a feel for the race.
A major break happened mid-race. I made a huge push to get into it where a teammate followed me into the wind. We made it, but once we hit the really windy section I simply couldt hold the echelon and dropped back again, cooked from the effort. My team-mate stayed in the break which was good. I though it would all come together in the end for a sprint but the break ended up staying away...hah.
It was so windy its hard to describe. At one point I looked up and saw a rider get blown over into the field about 5ft. If France Im leanring if you dont know how to ride in an escelon you learn really really quickly!
From that point when I dropped off back into the second pack, it was an un-eventful race really. The break stayed away and people continued to drop off. I had to fight each time to make sure I was in the front going into the windy section otherwise you were gonner.
I ended up netting 15th of 20 finishers, 4th in the pack sprint. With about 70 entrees, 15th is ok.
The Boys who were in the break did great. Guillaume netted 2nd on the day! Rodolphe a 7th and Ben a 6th(Im pretty sure ?).
Lessons learned yesterday. If you get blown off the road and find yourself riding in a ditch or on grass or dirt....its no need to panic.
On the Friday spin young Stu and I pedalled to the crazy old town of Domfront. Its about 20km away from Flers, and is right out of the middle ages. Its pretty insane this place. I think Domfront was orginally as castle with a giant wall surrounding it. Some of the wall and castle have colapsed or were destroyed in one of the 10 wars since then, but it was neat because you could look at the ruins and see the walkways built of stone and see inside the castle. The whole town is built on a hill, with a modern-ish town built on the indside. Its really facinating to see.
Stu and I also chatted IN ENGLISH. the first face to face conversation Ive had in a month, and manged to find a real coffee machine in a bar. And we all rejoice.
1 comment:
good job buddy. nice to know you're getting used to your surroundings. have fun
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